Mid Sweden University

Purpose – How does right-wing populist discourse evolve in response to increased parliamentary influence overtime? This study analyses party leader debates of the Sweden Democrats (SD) in the Swedish parliamentbetween 2010 and 2024, focusing on four key populist elements: people-centrism, anti-elitism, popularsovereignty and antagonism.Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the inclusion-moderation thesis and existing theories of populistcommunication, we map and interpret shifts in the discourse over time. Previous research has often focused onhighly mediatized arenas, such as news media outlets and social media, which are also posited to be conducive to“sloganized” and sensationalist forms of communication. The study adds to current research by redeployingearlier conceptualizations of populist communication in a highly formalized and regulated environment. Using amixture of qualitative and quantitative analyses, we assess changes in the frequency and configuration ofpopulist elements in the SD’s discourse.Findings – Our findings reveal that the SD have largely maintained its populist discourse as per configuration,while the overall frequency of populist instances has declined between 2010 and 2024. The discourse emphasizesa strong focus on being representatives of the “people” as opposed to the corrupt “elites” throughout the years.Originality/value – Observed shifts in how this internal logic is substantiated shed light on the adaptable natureof populist communication. These results offer new insights into the evolving nature of populist communicationin a parliamentary context.

Lokaltidningskoncernen Mittmedia stod 2018 på ruinens brant. Checkkrediten var utnyttjad, det var tveksamt om löner skulle kunna betalas ut och oron bland personalen var stor. Räddningen för bolaget kom när svenska Bonnier och norska Amedia tillsammans köpte koncernen 2019. Men samtidigt som ekonomin var ansträngd, var den digitala kompetensen inom koncernen i absolut framkant. Under nästan ett decennium hade Mittmedia gjort en uppmärksammad digitaliseringsresa där man genomfört mer genomgripande förändringar än någon annan mediekoncern i Sverige. 

Denna bok är en berättelse om de människor som arbetade inom Mittmediakoncernen under 2010-talet. De digitala spjutspetsar som fick arbeta med utvecklingsfrågor befann sig på en fantastisk arbetsplats, men många medarbetare hade det tufft när sparpaket, uppsägningar och omorganisationer avlöste varandra. 

Boken ger ett forskningsperspektiv på Mittmedias digitala omställning och baseras på retrospektiva intervjuer med personer med redaktionella medarbetare, fackligt förtroendevalda, bolagsstyrelse och ledning, Genom ett unikt samarbetsavtal har forskarna också fått tillgång till en stor mängd interna dokument. 

How audiences behave behind newspaper paywalls is, in research, almost unknown territory. In editorial offices, however, this has become common knowledge, since traffic data is available around the clock. In this study, we have had the opportunity to study how subscribers with different degrees of subscription experience behave behind the paywall. In the analysis, we use traffic data generated from tracking scripts and stored in Amazon Redshift. The results are unambiguous. Readers with a paid subscription show a higher degree of activity, greater involvement, and more varied usage than do newly added readers with a free subscription, independent of age. Following subscribers with free subscriptions over time shows that their behaviour mainly is negative, with an overall lower degree of activity. Young subscribers with short-term accounts show the lowest degree of activity, independent of the measurement used. Implications of the results are discussed.